About Us
What is the Migrant Education Program?
The Migrant Education Program was established in 1966 as Title I, Part C of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The main goal of the MEP was to ensure that migratory children and families would have access to and benefit from the same academic and educational opportunities as children who do not live such highly mobile lifestyles. The mission and purpose of the Migrant Education Program is to serve the educational needs of the children of migratory agricultural workers who experience negative consequences due to a highly mobile lifestyle, languagebarriers, social isolation, and limited access to transportation and health care resources. Children who are eligible for MEP services benefit from support services such as tutoring, educational assistance, advocacy, and awareness about important health-care and health-related issues, educational and career opportunities, etc. Through academic intervention, social and educational support, as well as interstate coordination, state migrant education programs strive to minimize the negative effects associated with the challenges of a highly mobile lifestyle. The overarching goal of migrant education programs across the country is to ensure that migratory children receive the proper academic and educational support that is necessary to prepare them for high school graduation, college entrance and success, positive career goals, and active, productive, and successful life-long participation in society.
MEP Identification and Recruitment-
A crucial and vital component to the Migrant Education Program is the area of Identification and Recruitment (ID&R). Identification of eligible migratory children involves locating where eligible migrant children are. Recruitment of migratory children pertains to the gathering of the necessary information to determine whether or not a child is eligible to receive migrant education program services. Eligibility requirements and criteria for the migrant education program are very specific. It requires a great deal of competency and a thorough knowledge of laws, regulation, and guidance on the part of a MEP recruiter in order to consistently make accurate and proper eligibility determinations. Due to the highly mobile lifestyle of migratory agricultural workers and their children, eligible migrant children are often marginalized and difficult to find. But locating potentially eligible migratory children is the essence of the Migrant Education Program. For, those migratory children who are the most difficult to find are often the children who are most in need of MEP services and programs.
What is a Consortium Incentive Grant?
Under Section 1308(d) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (as amended under Every Student Succeeds Act, December, 2015), the Secretary of Education may award grants to state education agencies as an incentive to enter into collaboration agreements with other states. Such grants provide incentive for states to collaborate with other states and pool their resources together. This process of collaboration promotes interstate coordination and helps reduce administrative costs for states so they have more funding to use for direct services to migrant children and families.
What is IDRC?
IDRC (Identification and Recruitment Consortium) is one of four OME-funded Consortium Incentive Grants. The mission of IDRC is to develop resources, strategies, best practices, and creative solutions whose purpose is to improve and enhance ID&R activities in our 32 IDRC member states.